Feroza Cheapy Suspension Mods Buildup - Details & Pics

[Goatse.AJ]

I've had a quite a few PM's requesting for me to post up details of what I've done to my rear suspension, but have been flat out with work.

I'll give a brief run down of it now, with what pics I have, but I'm planning some more work over the next couple of weeks if I can find appropriate springs at the wrecker.

I was at one of those "Pick a Part" wreckers last week getting some bits for my soon-to-be daily driver, but couldn't resist having a bit of a look through the 4by section. The diificulty with the Widetrack Feroza is that the rear leaves are approximately 70mm wide, which is somewhat wider than most others.

As it happened, I got caught in a heavy rain shower while I was in the yard, and took shelter in a wrecked vehicle which was right next to an old Mitsubishi Pajero wagon. While sitting there, I noticed that the rear leaves looked about the right width . The Mitsi springs seem to be a bit longer, which should give better down travel, particularly with the extended shackles. The standard widetrack Feroza leaf (yes a SINGLE leaf in later models ) )is approx 1180mm long, from a quick search on the web, I think the Mitsi ones are 1205mm. I don't expect the centre pin to be in the same position as the Feroza originals, but that should only be a minor inconvenience......break out the drill. At this stage I'm not sure, but I'm hoping that the eyes at either end of the springs will be the correct size.... I'll deal with that when I get to it.

I'll obviously have to take a couple of leaves out of the Mistubishi pack as otherwise the pack will be waaay too stiff for the much lighter Feroza.

More on these developments over the coming weeks as I get the bits together and experiment a little.

More posts to follow with pics of the current setup.

First pic: Vehicle stock as a rock in the caryard. You can see the rear suspension was already pretty well sagged even then. Apologies for crap image quality.

[Goatse.AJ]

Ok, the current setup is as follows:

Rear:

Extended Shackles

Extra leaf from Holden HQ or HZ ute

Shocks from Ford Falcon (need looonger shocks, but I snapped one of my old ones).

COST = Shackles: A case of beer, thanks to Troy (Rock_Monkey)

Extra leaf: $26.00 a pair from wrecker.

Second pic: How she sits currently. Even with 30" Muddies, she's got considerably more clearance than stock.

Third and fourth pics: Shackles are made from a couple of heavy steel plates and BIG bolts, Troy might be able to shed some light on the exact details, as he made them up at his work for me. Mine are possibly a little too long, but they give that extra bit of flex

Narrow track shackles are a little different. IIRC, I think they're about 75mm wide at the top and 65mm at the bottom, but shouldn't present too many difficulties in fabrication.

***NOTE***: It is important to have a centre brace in the extended shackles (the centre bolt on mine), or you'll get way too much twisting in them.


Fifth and sixth pics: Unfortunately these are the best pics I have of my leaf spring setup at the moment, and I thought about assembly pics only after I'd put everything back together. I'll make sure I get plenty of pics when I do the next round of mods.

As you can see, I have simply added a leaf from another springpack to the existing one on the Feroza. Quite a simple job, just a matter of disassembling both packs and adding leaves from the donor pack to the original.

In Australia, the Holden HQ and HZ utes are ideal donor candidates for Narrowtrack Ferozas, and there isn't THAT much difference when installed on the Widetrack.

Just make sure you take AT LEAST a 4 pound hammer to get the donor springs off, as the HQ ones may have been on there for 30 years!

Anyway, I'll hopefully get out to get the new leaves in the next few days, and will also get a pic of the donor vehicle so there's no confusion over what to look for. I'll then get as many pics as I can of the whole process as it progresses.

It really isn't a big or difficult job, the only things holding me back are time to get parts, time to do the job and the weather. Hopefully we still have a few nice days to come before Melbourne's winter sets in.

[Goatse.AJ]

Pics continued....seem to be having trouble linking more than one pic per post for some reason???

[Goatse.AJ]

Just as a comparison, you can see from this pic, with just the extended shackles, and only the original single leaf in the rear, how much extra lift has been achieved, not to mention the improvements in load carrying capacity.

Also a close up of the rear suspension at (currently) full droop as limited by the crappy shocks, and a pose shot to give an indication of the improvement achieveable in rear end flex with the extended shackles compared to a stocky. I expect this to improveme further with longer shocks and slightly longer main leaf, provided I can get the Pajero one to fit properly.

[Goatse.AJ]

Ok, due to problems with posting pics, here is stock leaf spring setup with extended shackles.

Just as a comparison, you can see between this pic, with just the extended shackles, and only the original single leaf in the rear, how much extra lift has been achieved, compared to the pic a couple of posts above, not to mention the improvements in load carrying capacity.

Hopefully all this mucking around because of problems posting pics hasn't confused people too much.

[murcod]

AJ, I'm not an engineer, but wouldn't redrilling the locating bolt holes in a springpack be asking for trouble? Wouldn't there be a weak spot where the original holes are?